[ ♪ theme ♪ ] [ music ] >> good morning, everybody. it is monday december 17th.

welcome to the "full-court press" here on current tv. and what a horrible way to start this last week before christmas. mourning for the murder of those 20 beautiful little kids up in new ton, connecticut, shocked that yet another mass murder here in the united states is being far, far too many of them committed violent assault weapons and hopefully start this week determined that this time this time at least we finally have had enough, this time we will finally, pull together as the president said last night. this time, we will finally do something to get these weapons of war out of circulation. we will be talking all about that this morning and a whole lot more. take time out first to get the latest. to the's current news update from the lisa ferguson out in los angeles. hi lease a. good morning. >> hey, bill good morning everyone. on the heels of the shooting

which is one of the worst in history, not only is the nation mourning but it sounds like washington could finally be ready to push through some gun legislation. 20 innocent children with six adults were killed at sandy hook elementary. president obama spoke to a crowd much more than 900 mourners. he was understandably very shaken up e specialspecially since this is not the first time he has had to deal with this tragedy. >> since i have been president, this is the fourth time we have come together to comfort a grieving community torn apart by mass shootings. these tragedies must end. and to end them, we must change. >> president obama very emotional during that speech, as he was in his address to the nation on friday. privately, he told connecticut governor dan malloy that friday was the most difficult day of his entire presidency. publically, he promised the country that he will use whatever power he has to present

another shooting like this. and on nbc's meet the press, california senator dianne feinstein promised he will have a bill to work with. >> a bill to ban assault weapons. it will ban the sale, the transfer, the importation and the possession. >> feinstein said that bill will be introduced on the first day of congress, both in the house and in the senate. more bill press is coming up after the break. live in our chat room. you can join us there at current.com/billpress. come away armed with facts and the arguments to feel confident in their positions. i want them to have the data and i want them to have the passion. but it's also about telling them that you're put on this planet for something more! i want this show to have an impact beyond just informing. an impact that gets people to take action for themselves. as a human being that's really important. this is not just a spectator sport.

[ ♪ theme ♪ ] [ music ] broadcasting across the nation on your radio and on current tv this is "the bill press show." >> will we finally have the

courage to stop this? hey, good morning, everybody. it is monday, monday december 17th. welcome, welcome to the "full-court press" this solemn monday morning. coming to you life all the way across this great land of ours, a grieving nation this morning, from our nation's capitol here on capitol hill in washington, d.c. hard to celebrate the holidays with this hanging over us. it's good to see you because we have lots to talk about this horrific tragedy i hope in newton, connecticut happened after we left the air on friday morning. it has connell that' right us ever since. we finally, have a chance to talk about it together this morning. good to see you today. we are coming to you life of course on your local progressive talk radio station on sirius xm.

to share our grief collectively and also make plans for taking action one would hope. no doubt about it, well we will get to that in just half a second here but peter ogburn's got this week off. we are ably assisted however, by dan henning, who is here flying the 747. >> dan: good morning, bill >> bill: dan and phil we will continue to check your e-mails and twitter comments, so we don't lose you with peter gone. cyprian boulding celebrating another redskins win five in a row. >> very powerful. >> bill: our videographer here in studio with us. and yes, remember you can of course join the conversation any time. i know you are going to want to talk about this. it's good to talk about this. we need to talk about this. 866-55-press is our toll-free

number. you can reach us on twitter as always as bp show and facebook.com/bill press show. there will be no doubt about it this time. there will be legislative action. we are going to have to make sure that those bills succeed get all the way through the senate and house. >> that's not going to be easy but senator dianne feinstein yesterday, author a woman who came to office as mayor of san francisco after another gun tragedy and the murder of supervisor dan white and mayor george moskone. dianne feinstein knows about this more than anyone, personally authored the ban legislation and she has been working on this legislation over a year and she is going to put it in as soon as she can. >> i am going to introduce in the senate and same bill will be

introduces in the house, a bill to ban assault weapons. it will ban the sale, the transfer, the importation and the possession not ret proactively but perspectively and it will ban the same for the big clip drums or strips of more than 10 bullets. >> bill: all of those so-called weapons of war. they are weapons of war which have no business in the hands of civilians in this country. we will talk to congressman chris van hollen and igor valski from think progress in studio as well as one of the leaders from the brady campaign which has done so much since the attempted assassination of the reagan to keep this in front of the american people. we will get your comments and it may be take a little -- maybe a little plan for action here but first, as always, this is the full court press. dan has the other stories. the espn analyst who the

questioned red skin relationship with the black community, announcing rob parker is suspended until further notice on the shows's first take he took issue with rg3 for being engaged to a white fiance and wondered if the quarterback was trying to shun his african-american roots. out of a job for the time being. "the hob benefit" madebit" made. it pulled in 84 and a half million dollar which is a record for the biggest december movie opening ever. it means peter jackson will make a lot of money off of this trilogy. >> i went to see silver lining playbook yesterday. >> how was it? >> yeah. >> got a lot of combinations? >> but the point was there were so many kids in the theater, all, you know, parents just

lined up with kids to go see "the hobbit." >> big money. >> big news for holiday travel gas prices at their lowest level of the entire year. national average down to 3.28 a gallon. prices were $0.10 higher this year throne last year, over 3.60 thanks to spikes from hurricane isaac and a refinery out west highest price in hawaii and california, about 4 bucks and in missouri and south carolina, they are about to go under $3 a gallon. >> bill: whoa. >> how about that >> bill: thank you, dan. here we go. we have been through so many tragedies like this. i mean the names, we remember them because they had such an impact on us. remember columbine. we remember tucson, arizona. we were aurora colorado and just last week we were portland, oregon and now newton

connecticut -- newtown connecticut which has to be the worst so far because kids beautiful little 1st graders, little angels, 201st graders, 20 kids. we have seen their photos. we have heard their names. it just tears you apartment particularly those of us who are parents. it tears you apartment, these 20 little kids, four of their teachers, the principal and the school psychologist all gunned down multiple gunshot wounds to the head and brutal brutal acts possible against these people who in no way, i mean just totally, totally innocent people and this is the one i would hope that that would really shock us and move us to act. you know this weekend, we have been consumed with grief. we have been consumed with sorrow. we have been consumed with anger, too anger at ourselves,

and i've got to tell you i have been particularly consumed, maybe some of you, too, with a little guilt because i feel as the president indicated last night, i feel that i haven't done enough, that i haven't said enough, that i haven't pushed enough. i mean it's so -- there is sort of a rule in talk radio, you know, that there are certain issues you just don't talk about because everybody knows where up stand on those issues and it just doesn't do any good to talk about them on talk radio because you hear all of the samacts, all of the time. abortion is one of them and so is gun control. people avoid talking about gun chrome and i find that with so many of these tragedies, i have avoided t everybody knows, i think, where i stand on it but i have avoided talking about it because what good is it going to do because it's wrong. i was wrong to do that. we have to keep talking about it. we have to keep the pressure on because the other side doesn't stop. the nra and its nuts who oppose -- look of course we are

all for the second amendment. we have gone way beyond the second amendment. this is ridiculous. i used to hunt with my uncle, with my dad. i have a 20-gauge double-gauge shotgun or whatever it was when i was probably 13, the biggest thing in my love. i loved it loved my gun. but the idea of these semi oughtics, people need this, this is ridiculous. it's not like automatic rifles it's wrong and we haven't talked about it enough. we have to talk about it enough. here are some of the numbers that i saw again over the weekend. since 1982, 61 mass murders in this country with firearms. 61. eleven of them in schools. nineteen in the workplace. 3 one in military basis. on black friday, this year

154,000 guns were sold. 2 million guns sold in the month of month of november alone. there are 400 gun shops within the four counties of connecticut where newtown is located. and there are more gun sellers in this country today than there are mcdonald's. you know mcdonald's are everywhere, and yet, what have we done? it nothing. 1994, we put the the assault weapons ban in place that expires eight years later. done nothing. bush did nothing. president obama didn't do anything. never talked about guns except in the tucson, arizona, but never did anything his entire first four years. i think we awe share some of the guilt at this and particularly against the semi automatic weapons like the ar-15, which was the gun used in aurora colorado, in the theater shooting, the gun used in portland, oregon last week and

the gun that this nut case used in newtown, connecticut o friday. president obama, i must say, really, this really struck him as it struck all of us. in our briefing room on friday, he came in. nobody had ever seen the president so emotional, so moved when he talked about this one particularly struck him as a parent. >> they had their entire lives ahead of them birthdays graduations, weddings kids of their own. >> just think about all of that potential, all of those possibility did wiped out. last night, the president going to newtown, connecticut, meeting with the families of those little kids and telling us as a nation: this stuff has got to stop. >> we can't tolerate this any more. these tragedies must end. and to end them, we must change.

>> yeah, and yet the president says, so we are just going to, like, walk away from this and let millions -- not millions but let, well, is it would be 48,000 in the next four years, innocent people be killed by guns because the politics is too tough? >> are we really prepared to say that we are powerless in the face of such carnage, that the politics are too hard? >> bill: then the president says, look. you can't wipe out, you know, all violence with any one single bill, but damn it, we've got to do something. >> nol single law, no set of laws can eliminate evil from the world or prevent every senseless act of violence in our society but that can't be an excuse for inaction. >> bill: i think the challenge to us is: what are we going to

do? we just cannot -- cannot ignore it any longer. we cannot sit on the our hands any longer. we cannot leave the field to the nra and nut jobs like louie gommert of texas saying the answer would have been to give age ak-47 or n-4 to the principal of the school. come on. we've got to fight back. we have to be more out spoken than they are. there is a petition on the white house site white house.gov with almost 100 people signed in one day over the weekend, supporting, calling on the president to do something i will bring the exact wording to you but that petition at white house.gov, we ought to sign that, tell every member of the house and of the senate we demand this time that they take action. we have got to get word to the white house that president obama has to take the lead. he's got to put forth a plan. he's got to put forth good,

strong gun control legislation and we have to get mind the politicians and get them to support it and support those who support and take on the nra are we willing to do that? 866-55-press, 866-77377. this is the time to act and this is the time to act in the memory of those 20 kids andpresident obama read the roll call last night. >> charlotte, daniel olivia josephine, anna dylan, madeline catherine, chase, jesse, james, grace, emily,

jack noah caroline jessica, benjamin natilie, allison. god has called them all home. >> bill: now, the question facing us: do we stand with those kids, or do we stand with the nra? and that's the question facing every member of the house and every member of the senate and every elected politician across this country today. if do you stand with those kids or do you stand with the nra? take your choice. building up to this. >>bill shares his views, now it's your turn. >> this is the bill press show.

[ music ] >> this is "the full court press: the bill press show," live on your radio and on current tv. >> bill: herar we are 26 minutes now after the hour. again, that white house petitionpetition at white house.gov calls upon the president to produce legislation that limits access to guns. not specific but on point, search makes a point it's up to

the president to lead on this issue. dianne feinstein said the very least, they would introduce legislation to renew the assault weapons ban prospect actively not retroactively, and to put a ban on the multiple-round multiple clips that are used and i mean this guy had hundreds of rounds of ammunition, which he never even got around to, thank god, up in newtown, connecticut, or the death toll would have been a lot higher. is this a time to act? are we further ready? josh, what do you say? >> i say that obama, first, he should establish a gun safety commission and second, in order to ensure proceedductivity from that commission, obama should sign an executive order to suspend the production importation, sale trade, barter, or even repair of semi automatic rifles shot guns or handguns. >> bill: i don't know you can do that. i would support it but i am not

sure he can do that by executive order. but i would try it certainly if the congress fails to act. >> caller: semi automatic guns are not essential for hunting, home defending. >> bill: i saw some report and all of the information is a little sketchy but every one of these victims had been shot multiple times. his mother shot multiple tell times with automatic guns. they are only made to kill as many people as possible in as little time as possible. i mean that's what they are all about. no reason for anybody other than law enforcement or the military to have them. thanks, josh. charles in tampa, florida. hi, charles, quickly what do you say? >> caller: good morning. i think we have to address the issue of what took place. i mean, you know, we talk about semi automatic weapons and i

agree but bill, you walk into a classroom and if you want to kill, a handgun walking into a elementary or school, the guy could have killed just as many. >> bill: charles, he could not have killed just as many with a handgun that only fires one at a time. by the way, there was a tragedy in china, too, where a guy had a knife. there was no kids killed. none. >> this is "the bill press show." our national security at risk. >> bill: well, you know, that was a david stockman theory, i think the number one thing that viewers like about the young turks is that we're honest. they know that i'm not bs'ing them with some hidden agenda, actually supporting one party or the other. when the democrats are wrong, they know that i'm going to be the first one to call them out. they can question whether i'm right, but i think that the audience gets that this guy, to the best of his ability, is trying to look out for us.

[ music ] >> coming to you live at current.com/billpress, this is the bill press show, live on your radio and current tv. >> bill: welcome back, everybody. 33 minutes after the hour this

monday december 17th the full court press coming toy live at from our nation's capitol. we are focusing continuing our grieving and mourning over the loss of 201st graders for their teachers, the school principal and the school psychologist up at sandy hook elementary school in newtown, connecticut, at the hands of a mad gunman on friday morning. not only grieving but kind of weighing what we can do about it and determined to take action this time, led by the president of the united states who has not been good on this issue. let's face it. but yesterday, he indicated his resolve to use any powers of his office from now on out to try to get something done so that we can prevent more of these tragedies from happening in the future. according to mother scombrines, jones, their count 61, mass murders with guns son.

join us jonesing us in studio to continue our conversation he is usually here on tuesdays, igor igor volsky think progress that i their research action network. igor, good to see you this morning. we have heard very little from the nra. jones over the weekend. they just decided to lay low except for louie gommert. we will get to him in just a moment jones just a minute. after every appreciate jones previous tragedy that we suffered through towed jones together as a nation, they always come out with the same ol' stuff, some of the same ol' arguments. you jones think progress put out five myths that we hear from the anti-gun-control room people. >> they are their initial reaction and obama said last night, this is the fourth time we have had to give a speech like this, four major events in four years. >> bill: yeah. >> they start off by not saying anything. this time, they took their facebook page down their

twitter account has been quiet. they haven't issued any public statements. they weight jones wait it out and think in the aftermath, you say nothing. a week two weeks, people will move on. >> bill: yeah. they are hoping in a week, well, forget all about it. >> when they speak out t run us through some of these myth did or lies, i guess you call them wluch more gun your safer hairs jones areas have less crime. none of this is true. if you look at all of the credible studies and there is a lot of junk out there propagated by people funded by nra, funded by the gun manufacturers. if you look at the real studies for from places like harvard, the brady campaign which aggreg gates a lot of the jones this, you see clearly until areas in states where there is jones there are more guns there is more violence. in states where there are looser

gun restrictions about seven or nine times more crime guns go from those areas where there is regulation. so, you know, you will hear a lot. you will hear a lot in the coming days and you are hearing it now, maybe not from the nra but from some of the other advocates. it's only the principal is armed or the teacher was armed or jones let's get rid of school free zones, they say, maybe then this could have been prevented, you are starting a gun fight. you are starting a situation where people are caught in gunfire, people who aren't trained to use these guns now in a shootout in that kind of situation with kind jones kindergartners. it's scary >> bill: there is no doubt about it. there are other available weapons but if he had had a machete or a baseball bat or a knife or a gun that fired one at any time. right? >> he wouldn't very long multiple 30 round magazines, we know which was banned by the

assault rf jones ifles ban and ex jones it expired in 2004. >> bill: there jones with any other weapons, there is no way the victim count would have been this high. i did read this morning, looking for the article, couldn't find it, that the same day that we had this attack on an elementary school in newtown, connecticut, in china there was an attack on an elementary school by somebody with a knife. >> with a knife. stab wounds. i don't believe any deaths. >> bill: no debts. jones jones deaths. did he have jones we have to continue to get your calls at 866-55-press and your comments on twitter and facebook as well. >> we currently have laws that require states and federal agencies to send in information with people of mental conditions, that was

established. they are not doing that republicans, if you remember, introduced that law that would allow the veterans department not to send the law, not to give them their information about mentally challenged veterans into this national database. those laws need to be strengthened. >> that's true we also need to do more. we need to get back to bring back the assault weapons ban, outlaw these magazines, these large rounds of 30 magazines that the shoot out 11 or more bullets. that was the standard last time. there is lots in the mental health arena. unfortunately, the affordable care act will give people more healthcare.

>> that's one things states will have to cover in the exchanges going to get up and going in 2014. it's a combination, really, of current laws and also getting rid of some of the assault rifles. >> i believe there were several reports over the weekend after the shooting of gabby giffords that the justice department drew up a list of recommendations to tighten gun checks so that it would be let's likely that some of these guns could get in the hands of someone who wasn't mentally stable and yet the justice department shelved it hasn't done anything about it with an election coming up. that's the thing. i said this at the top of the show. it's not ideas that are lacking. it's political courage on the part of the politicians. let's talk to rob out in the mayson city, iowa. hey, rob, good morning. >> how are you doing? untags good

>> bill: good. what's your thought? >> i saw what happened friday. it's sick ended me. >> bill: tears you up. i told your screener, i am an nr member, not going to be any more. i am going to go sell my handgun today, after i drop my little girl off to school and i amplore anybody, if they don't want to make the same actions that i do for god's sake go get locks on your guns, lock them up. put them in a safe, you know. dis assemble them, make sure nobody can get their hand on them. >> bill: that's a sensible thing to do, rob. thank you so much for calling in. you know, there are also all kinds of programs where people who want to turn in their guns, right? >> buy-back programs all over the current tree. there has been a spike of people buying -- taking advantage of thieves programing turning in their guns in the aftermath of this tragedy citing the tragedy as reason to do so. you see that on the one hand. on the other hand, you see gun sales spike in the aftermath.

>> rob there is something else you ought to do. i am sure you have done it all weekend. give your girl a big hug. thanks. >> absolutely. thank you. >> bill: thanks rob. mim, up instony brook, new york. >> i have an awkward question. the mother, all of the ammunition he got came from her. >> bill: legally-purchased by her. i mean i know. it is awkward. everybody. a lot of people have been asking: what the hell was she doing with all of these guns in her house with a mentally unstable son? >> took her boys to the shooting range when she went. >> bill: yeah. >> her pervasive is gun culture when it's the mother. i'm sorry. this sounds kind of sexist but i mean we don't normally think of a mother as someone. i mean when my kids were little i was awful. i wouldn't even let them have a toy gun

>> bill: neither did we. >> it made them very angry. but i mean here is a mother. she's divorced. it's true. she is fragile. it's true. but it seems and everybody knew about it. >> yeah. yeah. she bragged about it. what i heard, she would go to the bar two or three nights a week and talked about her gun collection. >> begun enthusiast. her landscaper showed classic guns she had bought. she showed them to him. >> bill: not that you blame her, but it just makes you -- it shows, i think how pervasive the gun culture is when even this woman up there, you know, would have such a collection. and so much ammunition. i mean she had an arsenal in her home. she had a mentally disturbed son that they knew about. >> but if the idea is the more guns are the safer you feel i think this situation really, really undermines that.

>> bill: igor volsky from think progress.org. your calls. trying to cope with this tragedy and look forward to get out -- out of this has to come some action plan and some determination on those of us who have been silent for too long, but damn it, we are now going to fight the fight and we are going to support those politicians who are willing to stand up to the nra. >> that's why there hasn't been more gun legislation because politicians are afraid of the nra. they won't be afraid of the nra if they know that we are stronger than the nra. we are and there are more of us. 866-55-press. >> this is "the bill press show." [ music ] exciting issue. from financial regulation, fraud on wall street. things everyday exploding around the world that leave no shortage for exciting conversations. at the end of the show, you know

what has happened, why its happened and more importantly, what's going to happen tomorrow.

jennifer > it's these "talking points" that the right have about "the heavy hand of government". i want to have that conversation. let's talk about it. really. really! that you're gonna lay people off because now the government's going to help you fund your health care. really? i wanna be able to have those conversations. not just to be confrontational, but to understand what the other side is saying. and you know, i'd like to arm our viewers with the ability to argue with their conservative uncle joe over the dinner table. [ music ]

>> this is "the bill press show" show." >> john lowie is the -- -- i'm sorry. he is the director of the legal action project of the brady campaign, brady campaign with his has done so much to keep this issue alive and in front of the american people. he will join us in the studio in the next hour to continue our conversation. right now, igor volsky is here from thinkprogress, thinkprogress.org which was immediately out with a look at the new assault weapons -- renewal of the assault weapons ban which senator dianne feinstein said she would introduced to in the senate. get back to your calls in just a minute. but here is something this holiday season you might really want to consider and take seriously. i urge you to do so. that is to look into your family roots if you haven't already done -- if you haven't already,

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tryancestry.com. so igor with this assault weapons ban, to me the issues are not that complicated. okay? let's renew the assault weapons ban. >> high-capacity ban. >> put a ban on the high-capacity magazines. i had dinner with a member of congress the other night, friday night, the night of this tragedy. we watched the news together and went out to dinner and talked about it. he says what he tells people in his district when they ask him about: what are you going to do about our guns? it comes up at town meetings. he says, you know, you drive a car. don't you? yeah. okay. to drive that car, you need a license and you need to take a test and you need to have some training before we will trust you with that car. why should it be any difference for example? isn't it as simple as that. >> as simple as that. >> registration, training. i mean people have them ought to

go in once a month or whatever, how many times a year, the training, and we ought to know where they are and who is got them. >> yeah. i mean that's you know, it's easier to get a gun in this country than it is to do lots of things. you can get a gun, for instance f you are on the terrorist watch list. you can get a gun t you know if you have some kind of mental condition and it's not reported which is often the cases which happened in the virginia tech situation where they had two instances where this guy could have been caught and flagged. he wasn't. he got it with loopholes >> bill: there are more -- i was more stunned to hear this last night. there are more gun shops in this country than there are mcdonald's. >> and the rates of gun purchases are at all all-time high. 2012, after the president's re-election. >> two million guns sold. there are 250 million guns in

circulation. i mean that's problem because no matter what new laws we pass there are already 250 million out there. right? so why do you need anymore? >> the gun this guy used you can still buy at wal-mart. it's on the wal-mart website. >> angie down in gainesville, florida. hi, angie. >> good morning. i want to say i love your show. >> bill: thank you. >> i always can tune in and hear the truth. >> bill: i appreciate that. thank you. what's your point this morning? >> caller: got a statistic for you that i think is shocking. in the u. k. last year, there were 35 gun-related murders. in this country, 12,000. >> bill: god. god. >> caller: what in the world. >> britain had about eight last year. >> bill: what in the world? exactly. it's the wild west angie, i guess.

>> caller: yeah, that and i just wanted to say, you know, if we sit back and do little to nothing, then what else is there? do we just accept the fact that this is the world we live in? >> bill: no. no. no is the ants. the president said last night >> this must change and we must change. also, clay now clay is calling from indianapolis. hi, clay. good morning. calm >> caller: good morning. you know, everybody starts off by saying that we need to go to the nra. i do believe that we are entitled to protect ourselves, but these, you know, assault rifles and, you know, being able to anyone get a gun, we definitely need to work on that. and check into these people more often like he had just mentioned.

you know, find out who we are selling these guns to. >> bill: yeah. no. absolutely. >> at a time federal court is the swiss cheese. if you go to a federal gun store, a federal gun dealer, you undergo a background check. again, it's an inadequate background check because the database is inadequate. but 40% of sales are private sales. they are sales at gun shows. they are unlined sales. there are no background checks in those transactions. >> that's the federal floor. then you have the state laws but the federal floor is completely inadequate. the fact that 40% of people buying guns, we know nothing about them. >> bill: gun shows, still, no backgrounds. it's so clear some of the actions we could take which do not infringe on people's basic second amendment rights, do not infringe on them at all. iggor, thank you for coming in

this morning. >> thank you >> bill: thanks for the great work at thinkprogress.org. see you again soon. >> this is "the bill press show" did [ music ] but when joint pain and stiffness from psoriatic arthritis hit even the smallest things became difficult. i finally understood what serious joint pain is like.

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every day presents another exciting issue. from financial regulation,

fraud on wall street. things everyday exploding around the world that leave no shortage for exciting conversations. at the end of the show, you know what has happened, why its happened and more importantly, what's going to happen tomorrow. [ ♪ theme ♪ ] >> announcer: this is the "bill >> this is "the bill press show." >> all right. in the next hour, we will be joined in studio by congressman chris van hollen from the state of maryland, part of the democratic leadership and by reed epstein, white house reporter for politico. president obama back at the white house. he will be spending most of his time today in closed-door

meetings. i am sure et cetera going to be working on his cabinet. reports are he has decided john kerry will be the next secretary of state. those meetings on the cabinet and on the fiscal cliff. he and vice president get the daily briefing today at 10:15. then the two of them meet for lunch at 12:30. jay carney with his press briefing at 12:30, also. back with chris van hollen. >> this is "the bill press show."

[ music ] >> good morning, everybody. it is monday december 17th. and welcome to the "full-court

press" coming to i live from our nation's capitol coming to you live across a nation that is filled with grief, filled with mourning, filled with anger, we hope, and filled with determination, we also hope. not just the grief over the loss of those 20 little angels in newtown, connecticut, but determination that this time, we are going to do differently. this time, we are going to do something about it. not just stand in shock at another mass murder but move into action to make sure that these weapons of war get out of the hands of civilians and remain in the hands of the military and the law enforcement, which is the only place that they belong. we will talk how we are going to do that and also talk fiscal cliff this hour. lots coming up this hour but first, time out for today's current news update. what's the latest? we will find out from let'sa ferguson out in los angeles. hi let's lisa. gets morning? >> some people are beginning to

do something about it. they are actually taking gun control in their hands in light of friday's mass killings. residents of new york, new jersey, and california are turning in hundreds of guns as part of local government buy-back programs. some say they have made that decision because of the tragedy in newtown. senators dianne feinstein and chuck schumer plan to push for tighter restrictions including a new assault weapons ban and both and on morning shows to push for that this weekend. in the senate, there are 31 pro-gun legislators. an interesting note betsy fisher-martin says they reached out to all of the senators to express their views on meet the "meet the press" press". every single one declined. if there is any ray of hope that can come out of this tragedy, it's that we could see an improvement to the country's mental health services. we are waiting on police to release details about the mental state of shooter adam lanza but

similar mass murderers like those guilty at virginia tech or gabby giffords did suffer from certain serious mental health conditions. psychologists hope this time, it will lead to better care. he said we only hear of shootings with high enough body counts to make the news but mental illness risks countless lives every day. he said schools and communities have cut mental health care services for the bone and we are paying for that as a society. we will be right back. jennifer > it's these "talking points" that the right have about "the heavy hand of government". i want to have that conversation. let's talk about it. really. really! that you're gonna lay people off because now the government's going to help you fund your health care. really? i wanna be able to have those conversations. not just to be confrontational, but to understand what the other side is saying. and you know, i'd like to arm our viewers with the ability to argue with their conservative uncle joe over the

[ music ] >> broadcasting across the nation, on your radio and on current tv this is "the bill press show". >> this time, will it be any

different? this time, will we see some action? not just talk? good morning, everybody. welcome to the "full-court press" this monday morning december 17th, coming to you live from our studio here on capitol hill in washington, d.c. and booming out to you every part of this great land of ours on your local talk radio station if you are lucky enough to have one and on current tv. good to see you today. it is a weekend that we all spent in total shock in grief and hopefully also in determination that this time we will pull together as a nation as president obama indicated last night under his leadership and get something done towards sensible gun control. we also have to deal with the fiscal cliff sometime this week one would hope, or next week. here in studio with us to help us through both questions, congressman chris van holland

part of the democratic leadership, good to you with you. thank you for coming in. we will involve you, also in the conversation wherever you happen to be out there give us a call at 866-55-press, or you can join us. >> that's our toll-free number. join us on twitter at bp show and facebook.com/bill press show. peter ogburn has the week off dan henning is flying the 747. of course cyprian boulding on the video camera. or else you would hear us and not see us bash with a walters has her big end of the year specials, most interesting people of the year and of course the president and first

lady are at the top of the lits. she interviewed them on friday. there was a lot of busy because barbara walters was in the house. she interviewed, i think, and asked the president, you know, it used to be, what's on your ipod? you know, now, it's what apps do you have? right? >> right. >> here she goes. >> scrabble. >> gosh, sometimes i want to yank that out of your hand. >> who wins? >> he is get a available. scrabble. >> she doesn't look losing. >> i don't like losing to you. you are irritating. >> sounds like a typically husband wife conversation. i don't have scrabble. >> i don't have it on my ipad either the old fashion way. i don't have my electronic

version. i will have to check into that. >> i have solitary i have solitaryiresolitaire. >> it might be the we will get it for you after the show. >> very good. appreciate that. joining us a little bit later. congressman, senator dianne feinstein yesterday on "meet the press," she was the author, of course, of the assault weapons ban back in 1994. she hasn't been renewed since. on "meet the press," she expressed her determination. >> i am going to introduce in the senate and the same bill will be introduced in the house, a bill will be introduced to ban assault weapons. deportation not retroactively but perspectively, and it will ban the same for big clip drums

or strips of more than 10 bullets. >> going to work this time. >> bill, i think things have to be different this time, not just with regard to the assault weapon ban but looking at how we can reduce the awful magnitude of the killing out there and the president was absolutely right last night when he said there is no one simple solution here but that should not lead to paralysis. that doesn't mean that we shouldn't look at every opportunity to try and this kind of gruesome gun violence. >> john lowie here from the brady campaign in the last hour pointed out to us that this ar 15 or bush master assault weapon was used in newtown, connecticut is the same one that the snippers used when they terrorized this region particularly in mont gromrecount e. maybe 10 years ago?

>> that's right. that was in 2002 in the fall october, 2002. the community was in terror. people, you know, didn't want to go to the gas stations and would look over their shoulder. everyone worried that their kids, at school. it was a terrible time. the whole community was paralyzed, traumatized, and it was the same weapon what we need to do, i think, bill, is look at all of the issues surrounding a gun violence. we need more sensible gun laws and people should not fall prey to a lot of the nra fear mongering that people are out to take away their second amendment rights. those scare tactics have been too successful in the past at pair living us from taking common sense measures. one of the assault weapon ban but another is background checks. a lot of people don't realize that when you go to a gun shop, you go through the instant

background check, to see if you have a mental history, if you have mental health issues. >> still pretty loose. but at least it's there. >> at least it's there but you can go out of that gun shop, walk down the street to a gun show and buy a weapon with no background check. in fact, 40% of the weapons sold are at places like gun shows where there is no background check. we have a terrorist watch list that says you can't get on an airplane if you are on the terrorist watch list. if they say, no, you can't come on the airplane, you can walk to a gun shop and buy a gun, byuy a weapon, a bushmaster. so this is really an insane situation. so we should not be paralyzed by the argument that one thing by itself will in and outed prevent a kind of strategy. >> that's true. you need a comprehensive approach to dealing with this.

again, not fall prey to the fear mongering that the goal here is to take people's rights away. >> you are great on the policy side of this great but you are skilled on the political side. you are head of the democratic congressional campaign committee for a couple of years. is nra as powerful as it is purported to be, is it possible for a democrat or republican to stand up for reasonable gun control measures and still get re-elected or is the nra so powerful that you can't do it or are you going to lose? >> i think that people can stand up to the nra, but they need the support of the community on these i.

what happens is this is takes people in with a barrage of at this. >> the fear, going to take your guns away, get rid of all guns. >> right. >> that's exactly what their tactic is. their tactic is the so-called camel's nose under the tent, one common sense measure, it will lead to the government taking away your guns just absolutely nonsense but they have been very effective at sort of pur vaying that kind of fiction. to the extent this is a national conversation and people are focused and people can hear the arguments, we can take on the falsehood that are often spread out there. >> that's why it's important to keep the focus on this one. the public can be engaged. the polls show nra members over 70 percent of them accept the idea and welcome the idea of

universesal background checks. there is no good reason you know you should go to a gun show and not have it. >> some people are saying this morning it's going to be tough for congress to deal with this issue, the gun issue, because we are so far behind the curve on dealing with the fiscal issues particularly the fiscal cliff. all right. you are here. ges comes back today. you have both. this is it. this is the last week before christmas. is anything going to happen? are we going to go over the cliff? >> the answer is, i don't know right now. i know the president. i know democrats and congress are working very hard to prevent us the thing that has held us up is this sflooulz by speaker boehner to recognize taxes are going to go up. there are reports the speaker may give on that with respect to

people who earn over a million dollars, not clear whether that was just the income tax rates whether it also covered, for example, capital gains. the other issue is just the amount of revenue that comes in. in order to have a balanced package, you need something, what the president has been talking about. >> yeah. >> $1.4 trillion as part of the cut the president also put on the table as part of a balanced package. and if you limit it to what speaker boehner is reportedly talking about, you could raise as little. again, i don't know all of the details. in the range of $250,000,000,000 when, if you go into january you are talking about $950,000,000,000 coming in as a result of taxes on higher income individuals. >> we haven't seen because speaker boehner has been in ohio over the weekend. so again we haven't seen we haven't seen any detail.

all they get is two pages at the most from the republicans in the house. so we haven't seen the details but my understanding is that john dan if you push it up to a million, we will support tax rate of a million plus but only if we get entitlement cuts and, you know, when they are talking entitlement cuts, they are talking social security and medicare. >> right. >> why should obama, president obama, and democrats give on entitlements? >> two important points you made. the first i think we need to emphasize. so far, it's rumor out there in the newspaper. i vent seen anything in the newspaper, detail on the president's plan. it's important to hear from speaker boehner drenched. >> lay it out there? >> the other thing is every time he talked about even focusing on higher rates over a million, as you point out, he is talking

about deep cuts medical cuts. median income of $22,000. >> that's the median income. a lot of that is from social security. so these are people who are, you know, they are not living high on the hog. that's why you have to really tread carefully and why they aapproach democrats and the president is taking the medicare savings is to reduce the overall costs of the system not several transfer these higher costs on to the backs of the seniors. so, for example, the president's budget would ask pharmaceutical companies to go back to paying the same rebates on prescription drugs as they had to pay that same rebate before the first prescription drug bill for phones on medicare and medicaid. different approaches. republicans always define medicare reform as passing on higher prices to seniors whereas we have taken the approach of trying to reduce help to seniors

it seems it should be but no deal? >> in order to ask people of a million dollars and up to pay a little bit more, you've got to sock it to people on medicare who have a medium income of $22,000. >> no deal. congressman chris van hollen your calls welcome at 866-55-press. monday edition of "the full court press." we will be right back. >> chatting with you live at current.com/billpress. this is "the bill press show," live on your radio and current tv. dose of politics from a fresh perspective. >>i'm a slutty bob hope. the troops love me.

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>> this is the full"the full court press: the bill press show," live on your radio and on current tv. >> it's 24 minutes after the hour now. read epstein covers the white house for politico. my friend from the briefing room will be joining us in the next segment. right now, honored to have in studio, chrisman chris van hollen, the ranking member on the house budget committee. so there is this week and neck week. how much pressure is there on congress to really get something done, or do you find both democrats and republicans sort of feel right now they would rather just go over the slope or cliff or whatever rather than accept a deal they are not fully happy with? >> a bunch of pieces there.

the president has been clear he wants to resolve this before we get into the new year. he has also been very clear it has meet some basic priorities which he talked about in the presidential campaign. it has to improve presidential. a balanced approach. now republicans with higher taxes for the wealthy or he said he won't sign. >> absolutely. the reason, of course, is if you go into january, you automatically get these higher tax rates. >> gets what he wants. >> that happens automatically. would he really deal with this as part of a negotiation? yes, but if republicans can't see the handwriting on the wall they can't see two weeks ahead of time, less than two weeks now and recognize that the biggest tax increase happens if you go into january. >> that's a $5 trillion tax increase over 10 years that would sock it to middle income people. >> uh-huh. >> they have to move off of their position that they are

going to insist on hurting the economy and giving, you know higher income folks these big tax brakes and holding everybody else hostage. speaker boehner has adhered to this unwritten rule ramey not in the constitution or the statute. the idea he will not bring a bill to the for of the house for a vote unless half of the republicans will support it. that is indemcratic. if you want the house of representatives to be able to work together, it's a majority vote. take up the senate. let's do it right now. this artificial rule. >> it's a version of the filibuster. isn't it? >> it is. so the american people need to understand there is nothing that should stand in the way of us

taking a vote right now. middle cloos taxco cuts except for this made-up rule that says well, even though a majority in the house support something, we are not going to bring it up unless halves. speaker boehner may be worried if he brings it up and violates that rule, when he is put up for his election for speaker, january 3rd, that could create some problems. so i have been -- in order to get to january 3rd, which is when his vote for speaker comes up, and i would just hope that he would put the interests of the country ahead of republican house politics. >> this is about 30 seconds but should the debt ceiling be part of this negotiated settlement so that we don't have to have armegeddon in january? >> we have to deal with this debt ceiling issue. people need to understand this isn't about raising your

capacity. the congress has already voted on. on every one of these. you don't get a do-over. you don't get to say, you know, you are going to go buy things on the national credit card and then say, well, we are not paying for them. that would create acataclysm. >> thank you for comeing in. we will let you get back to work. >> thank you. >> this is "the bill press show." i think the number one thing that viewers like about the young turks is that we're honest. they know that i'm not bs'ing them with some hidden agenda, actually supporting one party or the other. when the democrats are wrong, they know that i'm going to be the first one to call them out. they can question whether i'm right, but i think that the audience gets that this guy, to the best of his ability, is trying to look out for us.

[ music ] >> on your radio and on current tv this is "the bill press show." >> thirty-three minutes after the hour, monday december 17th.

it has been a remarkable weekend in so many ways. shortly after our show ended on friday that we got the first news of this horrible massacre at newtown elementary school and the more we heard about it, just the more shocked we were these 20 little angels brutally murdered by this madman. four of their teachers, school principal, school psychologist and we dealt with that through friday. president obama coming out to the briefing radioed on friday night with a very emotional statement and then more details coming out on saturday andthan yesterday, very very powerful memorial service where the president spoke and the community gathered in the gym there nearby the new town sandy hook elementary school. reed epstein -- wilson?

sorry. get it together. reed epstein covers the white house for politico. >> reed wilson is a good guy >> bill: he is. we have had him on. >> he will be here tomorrow. >> read epstein. reed, you were there friday afternoon. you were with the president in newtown, connecticut last night. let's start with friday afternoon. there is no doubt this was an event that really had an impact on the president. >> you could tell the tears on friday. there was a section in his remarks when he talked about what these children would never be able to come. it took him for a good 12

seconds where it was visible and you could tell it was extremely difficult for him and governor malloy last night said that the president told him it was his hardest day as president. >> >> bill: from friday, dan if we have that, the president, where he has talked about the potential, promise. >> they had their entire lives ahead of them, birthdays, graduations, weddings, kids of their own. >> bill: and all of that just snuffed out on friday morning. then, tell us about the memorial service last night. i mean i would imagine just being in that room must have been a very very powerful moment for everybody. >> it was very heavy. the white house traveling

tourtour. >> the president was meeting with family. >> the president was meeting with family members. he had a couple of meetings sort of off-stage. he had one with the connecticut congressional delegation and governor a shorter meeting. briefly what the photo said to him and babies there. there was a photo of him with the granddaughter, holding the granddaughter of the school principal, a one-or two--year-old child t looked like. and doing sort of what we expect presidents to do in that situation. you know comforting people, being there for them. there is not a great deal more that one can do in that instance. >> right. the program was beautifully, i

thought, orchestrated and arranged. the ministers, rabbi and preachers and then the governor spoke well and the president again, last night was a very powerful -- with a very powerful challenge to the nation. is that what you expected? >> we had been told he was going to give more of a spiritual than policy message. there was no policy specifics. there is no, this is what we are going to do. >> never used the word guns. >> shootings but not guns. but it was certainly raised the bar for him to do something about gun control in the second term. he left everyone who watched it, everyone who was in the room, every way who watched it on

television with the impression that this is it, that he is now committed to doing something about gun control and now, he has to do something to show for it. it's a very different -- it was a very different. speech than the one he gave in arizona almost two years ago after the giffords shooting. that speech was much more uplifting, much more sort of, you know, sort of obama sort of challenging the country than sort of a campaign. message. >> bill: i thought it was very powerful. he began, of course by saluting the people and sharing their grief and pain but saluting them for the example they had shown to the nation about how they pulled together and how they were demonstrating their love

for each other. showing people our most important priority has to be to love our children and keep our children safe. we have to ask ourselves, have we done enough? all right? he sort of left that question hanging. i was wondering if he would go there and he said the answer has to be, no, we have not done enough. these killings must end. we cannot accept this any longer. and then, he came up with this pledge for his own again, not specific, but certainly a pledge to action here. >> in the coming weeks, i will use whatever power this office holds to engage mental health professionals and parents and educators in an everett aimed at preventing more tragedies like this. >> so what do you take out of

that? is it legislation or a commission? or what you do you hear? >> he permits himself to engagement, not necessarily to legislation or what-have-you. so, again, like this is sort of the magic of these obama speeches is you hear them, and first time you hear them, you hear that he is going to do something. >> yeah. >> you hear you sort of leave people sort of charged up to storm the bastille if you will and you listen to it a second and third time and et cetera very careful about not saying he will do a specific thing but making you think he will do a specific thing. so heizes the word "engagement." that could be, you know meetings, talk about it, you

know. >> i think about this this morning, myself. the fact that the president was not more specific and the fact is. he is not use the phrase "gun control" or reasonable restrictions on available guns or whatever. do you think it's because he did not want to abuse or take advantage of his position in front of that particular audience to give a political speech? >> i think he wanted to give a speech that didn't -- wasn't sort of entirely political. and it wasn't an entirely political speech. >> no? >> there were a couple of segments like the one you just played where he sort of put the challenge out there to himself and to people to do better you can get away with it to know most people who saw it felt that way. >> today, at the briefing, you and i and others everybody,

it's going to be, of course, pushing jay carney for what the specifics are. right? assault weapons ban? multi-clip magazines? register backgrounds? >> and jay is going to say, today's not the day. >> we are not going to get the specifics from jay carney today. we know that ahead of time at the briefing but can the president in this second, having done nothing at all about guns in the first segment, in the first term, can he get away in the second term with doing nothing? >> i don't think so. whether he intended to -- i think he did. most people think he was going to do something. he never, while he sort of made campaign pledges in 2008 and said things in the past that he is for reauthorization of the assault weapons ban when he was

in the state senate, he had said things that were even more restrictive about guns senate, he now has an obligation based upon what he said more so than what happened. >> bill: i think he will. i think we can count on him to. and i could give you 20 good reasons why he will and president obama last night, as you recall leaves us with 20 goodruns. i would like to hear that one more time. >> charlotte daniel olivia josephine, anna dylan, madeline catherine, chase, jesse, james, grace, james,

emily, jack noah caroline, jess jessica, benjamin natilio, allison, god has called them home. >> can't do that without opening up? >> you could hear in that peace the room really fell apartment when he -- when he got to that point. and you knew the whole speech that at some point, he was going to list, just read through the names of the children, and you knew what it was going to do to the room, and he still you know rose to that moment. >> that's sort of all of the things, he is good at that. >> absolutely. i think today the question is: do you stand with those kids? do you stand with those 20 names? those 20 angels, or do you stand with the nra? we will be right back reed

epstein from politico here on "the full court press" this monday morning. >> this is "the bill press show." dose of politics from a fresh perspective. >>i'm a slutty bob hope. the troops love me. >>only on current tv.

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[ music ] >> heard around the country and seen on currents t.v.current t.v. this is the bill press show >> bill: eleven minutes before the top of the hour. in studio, for politico politico.com, of course, no better site for knowing what's going on here in our nation's capitol, both on the hill and at

the whitehouse. reed epstein was in the briefing room for the briefing on friday and then for president obama's extraordinary appearance there to make a statement about the mass murder at newtown, sandy hook elementary school and then was with the president last night flying up on air force one to newtown, connecticut. so reed, we have the brady campaign, john lowie who is the director of their legal action project who was talking about -- let's go back to the president and what his agenda might be. their focus is on background checks. you know, yeah, we have to get rid of the assault weapons ban. they support bringing back the ban but just to get background check on every gun purchased. they point out that 40% of the purchases today, there are no background checks at all because they are either, one, person to

person, or online or at gun shows, not in gun stores. >> that's something that we might see the president get behind? do you believe? >> we don't -- we don't really know what the president is sort of where his mind is and what specifics he is into at this point as far as -- >> bill: he has nothing to lose? he is not going to run for re-election again. >> he is not going to run for rely. one thing that struck me that joe leiberman said at the event when we were speaking with him, we can't -- now you have to maintain the hurt that you feel now in order to get something done. and that every time this happens, people are angry and hurt. >> then we move on and do nothing. >> the rest of the country sort of moves on to something else. >> right. >> the people until tucson or in colorado or wisconsin or now.

>> they are left with it? >> it doesn't translate into action in part because of the entrenched interest that we have. >> bill: do you think it will be different this time? because these are 1st graders. to that extent the worst of all we have experienced, which is not to minimize what happened in aurora, colorado or columbine or virg tech but those 1st graders hit everybody. laura is calling from georgetown kentucky. laura, what's your point this morning? >> my granddaughter -- i live in a rural area. most school system's offices are in the front. my granddaughter's school system, the office is bullet-proof glass. they go through one set of doors. each student has a name and an id number.

they go through one set of doors and a secondary set of doors. when school starts, those doors are locked. anybody can get in with a name and an id over the enterintercom. >> i will stop you there in the interest of time. my understanding is that they did have locks, the doors were locked at sandy hook elementary school, that this guy shot his way through the glass. isn't that correct? >> we can that he wasn't buzzed in and that when the police and law enforcement got there, the glass in the front had been -- had been broken out and so the assumption is that he shot his way in. he certainly forced his way in. >> but to laura's point, when the president says an examination of these issues, certainly school safety will be one of them. >> yeah. and you would think that would be a thing that is in part of this, but it doesn't sound at least from the reporting that

has been out there already that there wasn't a lot that the school could have done about someone showing up at the front door with a semi-automatic weapon blowing doors out. no amount of reasonable security is going to prevent something like that. >> fortress surrounded by police officers. he can't do that to every school in the nation. you've got to get back and deal with things. thank you so much. i know you had a very very late night or early morning whichever way. thanks for coming in this morning. >> thank you. >> all right. and your good work. we will be right back. >> this is "the bill press show."

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>> the parting shot with "bill press." this is "the bill press show." >> there are indeed no words to describe all of the pain we feel, seeing the photos of those twenty 1st graders killed so senselessly as well as the photos of their brave counsellors and teachers who died trying to save them. there are no words to describe our pain. there should be no obstacle to containing our anger so despite so many mass killings we have done nothing to restrict the easy access and availability to weapons of mass destruction really to military weapons which have no business in the hands of civilians, should only be in the hands of the military and police officers.

we know what to do. it's not ideas that are lacking. it's political courage on the part of the politicians that's lacking, but i think right now there is no excuse. the choice is clear. you either stand with those 20 1st graders, or you stand with the nra. take a stand. make up your mind. one or the other. >> this is "the bill press show."